


save me from my nightmares

by lulumina



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Mild Angst with a happy ending, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, Nightmares, One Shot, Post Season 7, Post-Canon Fix-It, again only in a nightmare, but only in a nightmare, clone keith - Freeform, clone shiro - Freeform, i hated season seven so heres a good ending, lance maybe has ptsd, someone give him a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 10:32:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16157252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulumina/pseuds/lulumina
Summary: After the battle for the planet Earth, Lance as well as the other paladins are recuperating in the Garrison hospital. Lance is haunted with nightmares of his own death, and each night they’re more horrible and twisted than before.On top of his bad dreams, Keith hasn’t talked to him for weeks. Lance doesn’t know what he did wrong- so he decides to take matters into his own hands.





	save me from my nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> s7 sucked so here’s a two month late fix it fic  
> enjoy~

Lance dreamed of dying.  
It happened in different ways each time. Sometimes it would be in ways that he had already experienced. He would see himself shout and launch his lion into a laser beam to save Allura, or watch the Galra fighter ship grow closer to him and his sister, powerless on the ground.  
Sometimes it happened in new, terrifying ways. He saw himself tortured by the druids, injected with quintessence, faced with a clone of Shiro that he was forced to fight.  
He lost every time.  
In each dream, right before he met his end, he would wake up in a cold sweat, screaming in fear. Sometimes his mother would be by his hospital bed to hold him tightly for hours as he trembled, murmuring quietly about how he was okay and safe, how he couldn’t be harmed here.  
Sometimes it was his siblings by the bed, there to distract him with crazy stories and games.  
Every once and a while it was Hunk or Pidge or Allura, there to keep him company. With them, Lance felt no pressure to speak, to share his night terrors. They just understood.  
But the one person Lance would give anything to see sitting next to his hospital bed never appeared. Keith was nowhere to be found. Lance knew that he was almost fully healed- Allura brought information from all over the Garrison when she visited him. Apparently, Keith had been spending lots of time with the team lately in his hospital room.  
But not with Lance.  
He tried not to take this too personally. They had all been affected by the battles, physically and emotionally. Lance of all people knew that- the nightmares were a direct result of the trauma he had experienced, according to the doctors. That’s why he needed to stay in the hospital longer than most of the other paladins. Not to mention his body wasn’t fully healed.  
Keith had been through just as much as Lance and was the only other paladin still under the hospital’s care. Maybe he was too overwhelmed to think about his right-hand-man.  
Nevertheless, thoughts of Keith still plagued Lance’s waking hours. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was hurt by the way Keith had acted towards him on the way to Earth. Insulted, patronized, shut down.  
Lance’s mind constantly dwelled on that odd game show they visited. Lance had voted Keith to leave, as he knew that Keith was the true future of the Earth. Lance was ecstatic when Keith revealed Lance as his choice as well, but utterly crushed when he found out it was just to get rid of him.  
That wasn’t the Keith Lance knew.  
Lance felt helpless.  
On the night before his scheduled release from the hospital, Lance had another dream. It was the recurring one where he was fighting the clone, throat choked with tears and body aching with pain. He would scream hoarsely for Shiro to come to his senses, but the dream would always end with his glowing hand inches away from Lance’s neck.  
Tonight, however, the dream was different. Lance’s combatant was slim and lithe, and fought with a Galran sword rather than a glowing prosthetic.  
Lance would recognize him anywhere, even as a twisted clone.  
It was Keith.  
His eyes as he clashed blades with Lance were grey and stormy, infused with dark energy. His Galra side flickered on and off, smile growing wider and more twisted as the battle raged on, razor sharp fangs growing into existence.  
“Please, Keith! This isn’t you. I know this isn’t you! Come back to me!” Lance shouted, pressing back against Clone Keith’s advances.  
“Come on, Lance. I can’t believe you’re ignorant enough to think I would come back for you!” Keith snarled, delivering a swift blow to Lance’s side with the butt of his sword.  
“You always were the dumbest paladin. Thinking there was something between us. I know why you formed that silly rivalry. It was because you had feelings for me and didn’t know how to deal with them,” Keith placed a foot on Lance’s neck to keep him on the ground and leaned down to look into his eyes. “You were always Loverboy Lance. You drooled after every girl with two legs and a pretty face. You couldn’t face the fact that you had feelings for a guy, and he didn’t like you back.”  
“Keith,” Lance choked out. “Please. This isn’t you.”  
Keith dug his heel deeper into Lance’s windpipe.  
“You only wish. Goodbye, Lance.” Keith hissed, and the dream ended as Keith’s sword sliced through Lance’s chestplate and neared his heart.  
Lance awoke drenched in sweat, shaking uncontrollably. No one was in his room. He took a moment to catch his breath, then raised a hand to his face. Fat tears rolled down his cheeks, soaking into his pajama shirt.  
It took him a moment to separate dream from reality. His brain was playing tricks on him, as it did so very often. Lance closed his eyes and focused on the truth.  
Keith didn’t actually say those horrible things.  
It was simply Lance’s insecurities being placed in the mouth of the person he cared about most.  
Lance took a shaky breath and got out of bed, padding to the bathroom connected to his hospital room. He couldn’t stand this any longer. These stupid dreams where he had to watch himself die over and over, messing with his brain and emotions. He was done.  
Lance splashed his face with water and quickly dressed into his typical jacket-and-jeans ensemble, then tugged his sneakers on and crept out the door. It was late, and most everyone in the hospital was sleeping.  
Lance slipped down the hallway, glancing at the names posted at each hospital door. Halfway down the hallway, he found it- _Keith Kogane. ___  
Lance paused. Was he really doing this? Maybe Keith really didn’t like him anymore. He had spent two years with his mom in space. He now was two years older than Lance, however that worked. Maybe Keith thought Lance was too young and immature to bother spending time with? Maybe he did like Lance at one point, but after all that rivalry stuff Lance came up with he gave up?  
No, Lance thought. Don’t downgrade yourself like that. Keith has just had a lot to think about.  
Lance steeled his nerves, then knocked three times on the hospital door. There was a shuffling noise behind the door and it slid open to reveal Keith in baggy Garrison issued pajamas. His eyes widened when he saw Lance.  
“Oh... hey, Lance. I wasn’t expecting a visit, uh...” Keith muttered, running a hand through his hair.  
Lance shifted his feet. “I have something to talk to you about.”  
Keith glanced behind him into the room. “I guess this is good... because I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something too. Do you mind if I get some real clothes on?”  
“No, it’s okay. I’ll wait here.”  
Keith nodded and shut the door, and Lance let out a breath.  
_That’s the first time I’ve talked to Keith in weeks. ___  
Lance couldn’t stop thinking about what Dream Keith had said. Did Lance actually have feelings for Keith that were hidden by a rivalry?  
No, it couldn’t be. That’s such a stupid cliche, if Lance liked Keith than he would know.  
So why had he felt a tug in his gut the moment he opened the door?  
Keith returned to the door a couple moments later, dressed in his signature red jacket and black leggings.  
“I’ve got a good place for us to talk.”

____—————_ _ _ _

______The breeze caught Keith’s hair and whipped it gently around his still sleepy eyes. He stifled a yawn and swung his legs over the edge of the roof, his feet hanging in open air.  
Lance swallowed a protest and followed suit, feeling a bit queasy from looking at the cement sidewalk a hundred feet below his dangling sneakers.  
He glanced back at Keith, who was staring at the lights of the Garrison headquarters with a troubled expression on his face.  
“Keith, I-“ Lance started.  
“Lance.”  
“Uh- yeah?”  
“Lance, you know I’m not the most eloquent speaker. I tend to say more with my actions than my words. So forgive me if I have trouble saying this-“ Keith stopped and put his head in his hands. He tousled his hair and smoothed it back, baring his forehead to the night air.  
Lance’s stomach trampolined into his throat and he pushed it back down.  
“Well, I just- lately, I realize I’ve been- it’s not really that I don’t-“ Keith attempted, rubbing the back of his neck.  
Lance placed a gentle hand on Keith’s arm.  
“Just say what you need to say, man. I may not understand, but I’ll do my best. We’re a team, remember?” Lance cracked a grin. “Lance and Keith.... neck in neck? Remember that?”  
Keith smiled softly and looked into Lance’s eyes. He took a deep breath and looked back at his feet.  
“Okay. What I’m trying to say is... I’m sorry. I’m sorry for treating you horribly this past few months. I’ve been so stressed about leading Voltron again, and doing all this crap recently with the Galra... I may have taken some of my negative emotions out on you. And you don’t deserve that in any way, shape or form. Lately I can’t stop thinking about that stupid game show we were forced to play. How you chose me to escape, and all that stuff you said about me being the future. And then I chose you, and I had all these reasons lined up in my head as to why you were the best option to escape and I guess I panicked when I saw that you had chosen me too. So I lied. And I’m sorry. I know that you may not forgive me, and that’s okay. But just know that I feel like an absolute idiot for acting the way I did. Adding that to the things I did when we were stranded in space... I don’t know how you could possibly see me as a capable leader of Voltron anymore. Or as your friend.”  
“Keith... what are you talking about? There’s no one more capable than you to lead Voltron. You’ve grown so fricking much since you first became black paladin. I couldn’t ask for a better leader.”  
Keith looked back at Lance and was met with a sweet smile.  
“Besides, you have nothing to be sorry about, so stop apologizing. Tensions have been high. I said some awful stuff too. I was so upset when you weren’t talking to me, or coming to see me in my hospital room.”  
Keith glanced up with wide eyes. “I thought you were the one avoiding me.”  
“Keith, I would never try to avoid you.”  
“I’m sorry for making you think I was ignoring you.”  
“Idiot, I told you to stop saying sorry.” Lance chuckled fondly. His stomach was back in his throat and he felt he could hardly breathe. Keith was so close, and he smelled like minty body wash and hospital hand soap. His hand drifted down Keith’s arm and rested on the back of Keith’s hand. Lance flitted his eyes up to Keith’s face, which was dusted with a rosy blush.  
“Sorry,” Keith breathed, meeting Lance’s soft blue gaze. Lance felt Keith’s hand press into his as their fingers gently intertwined. Lance saw Keith swallow. “But the truth is... I like you. Like, like-like you. I think I have for a while, but recently it’s just become so much more clear to me.”  
“I think I like-like you too,” Lance said quietly. Then he let out a soft chuckle. “Saying that makes me feel like a grade schooler. But it’s true. I spent so much time thinking of you as a rival, I never stopped to think of what my real feelings were. I was so torn up when we weren’t talking and I couldn’t figure out why. But now I think I know,” Lance paused and smiled softly at Keith. “I just can’t bear the thought of losing you.”  
“You know what, Sharpshooter?”  
“What?” Lance murmured, leaning in closer to the black paladin. Their noses bumped softly and Lance could practically count Keith’s thick, dark eyelashes. His heart was pounding a million miles an hour, but his and Keith’s every minuscule movement felt suspended in a vat of maple syrup.  
“I wouldn’t mind spending eternity with you.”  
Their lips met, and two hearts stopped simultaneously.  
In the bushes below, Pidge groaned quietly and handed a five dollar bill to Hunk. 


End file.
